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Ridley Scott Talks 'Prometheus' Rating, 3D Effects & More

Excitement is sky-high right now for director Ridley Scott's return to the realm of horrifying science-fiction with Prometheus. The marketing campaign for the movie has done an excellent job of playing it up as a darkly gorgeous, yet disturbing blockbuster that further explores the Alien universe (prior to the events of Scott's original 1979 film) - but has more than a few tricks up its sleeve, with regards to its plot twists and previously-unseen extraterrestrial monsters.

Naturally, everyone wants to hear what Scott has to say about the project. Today, we've rounded up a couple of recent interviews with the filmmaker that focus more on aspects like Prometheus' rating and 3D effects - and (thankfully) not just the exact nature of this movie's connection the larger Alien franchise.

"The question is, do you go for the PG-13, [which] financially makes quite a difference, or do you go for what it should be, which is R? Essentially, it's kinda R. It's not just about the blood, it's about ideas that are very stressful. I'm not an idiot, but I'll do everything I can to get the most aggressive film I can."

Early Prometheus footage has strongly hinted at a pretty non-PG-13 affair, what with such imagery as characters' faces being melted or people slumping around half-naked, splattered with blood. Even if the film does manage to squeak by without an R Rating (which doesn't seem too likely) it could easily still pack as troubling a punch as we're all hoping for.

Scott also reiterated (once again) that the backstory for The Space Jockey was a big factor in his decision to call the shots on Prometheus, rather than hand it over to another director:

"[I've wanted to revisit the 'Alien' universe for] years! Years, years, years. I always wondered when they did ['Aliens'] 2,3 and 4 why they hadn't touched upon that, instead of evolving into some other fantastic story. They missed the biggest question of them all: who's the big guy [the Space Jockey]? And where were they going? And with what? Why that cargo? There's all kinds of questions."

As much as longtime Alien fans are excited to finally learn about the identity of the creature who wears the Space Jockey suit, that aspect of the Prometheus mythology seems far less interesting than the lofty themes and layers of meaning implicit to its central narrative. Hence, everyone who keeps referring to this flick as an Alien prequel... well, that perspective really seems to miss the greater points of Scott's new project.

In a separate interview with Total Film, Scott also elaborated on the use of 3D in Prometheus (which was shot in that format, rather than post-converted):

"I'm kind of naturally visual anyway, that's where I come from. And you're working off superb 3D screens, which are on the floor, and are really big. It was just wonderful... I was shooting on 3D, then seeing it on the floor. It was easy, I must say... You only want to push it so far, before it becomes arrows popping out of the screen and stabbing you in the eye. You use it for visual effect.

"... I'm actually decided right now how deep to make [the depth of field in 'Prometheus'] on certain sequences. So you can literally, as it were, twiddle a knob, and the depth will increase. It's kind of bizarre, but there it is. Technologically it's absolutely staggering. I was working with MPC in London, looking after almost 1,300 big FX shots, and every night they would pipe through shots to a big screen in my office in Lexington Street; I would sit there watching a sequence that had just been graded or refined in perfect 3D. Really amazing."

By early accounts of those who've watched the Prometheus IMAX trailer in 3D up on the big, big screen, the film looks just as marvelous as Scott is saying here. Suffice it to say, we're excited to see the results for ourselves.

Prometheus arrives in theaters (2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D) around the U.S. on June 8th, 2012.